


A Poisoned World

by theholyholtby



Series: Fantastic Beasts - After CoG [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Betrayal, F/M, Gen, Global Wizarding War, Great Depression, Love, POV Alternating, Resistance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2020-02-28 12:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18756064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholyholtby/pseuds/theholyholtby
Summary: Grindelwald's movement grows more powerful as the Great Depression reaches its peak.Dumbledore and Theseus start to take resistance against him into their own hands. Tina and Newt try to raise a child and fight for their beliefs in a time when it's dangerous to do either. Jacob helps both pairs, while also trying to put his own past behind him.Meanwhile, Credence becomes more disillusioned with the movement and himself. Queenie finds herself torn between helping him, and fufilling her increasing duties in Grindelwald's plans.This part of the story runs from late 1933-1935.





	1. Dangerous Times

Newt

_‘Good morning wizards and witches of the UK. This is your morning news report for the 19 th of October 1933. The rumours that have been circulating this week about a breakout in Germany’s wizarding prison has been confirmed this morning by German Chancellor for Magic, Rudolph Spielman. He said that on Tuesday, several acolytes of Grindelwald’s regime attacked the prison, with the support of a Dementor colony. He would give no further details._

_‘Germany was holding several prominent members of Grindelwald’s so-called ‘Inner Circle’, who have now surely escaped back to their master. Amongst those prominent figures was bounty hunter Gunnar Grimmson, who is infamous for his cruelty._

_‘Britain’s own Head Auror Alison McIntosh has called for calm, claiming Grindelwald has made no attempts to spread his regime to Britain, and that it is unlikely he will. Despite these calming words, questions must be asked of our Ministry and if they’re doing enough to stop the growing regime on the continent. The Minister seems to be out of his –‘_

The radio shut off in the middle of the broadcast. Newt looked up from where he was cutting meat for feeding to see Tina standing on the bottom step next to where the radio was, having turned it off. In her arms was their son, Carnelian Scamander, his strawberry blonde hair a mess, sticking out at all angles. His little hands were fiddling with a loose strand of Tina’s hair.

‘I told you not to listen to that, Newt. It’s all too depressing,’ Tina said, placing Carnelian on the ground.

Newt watched for a moment as Carnelian waddled towards Dougal the Demiguise, who was sleeping on the floor. The Demiguise fortunately stirred before Carnelian could launch himself onto him. Dougal caught Carnelian as he launched and wrapped his arms around the young child and began scratching his head, much to Carnelian’s delight. Confident that his son wasn’t going to accidentally annoy a beast, Newt turned back to Tina.

‘Depressing or not, I think we need to know. Grimmson’s escaped. That’s important news,’ Newt said.

‘If we need to know anything, Theseus or Dumbledore will tell us. Do you really need to hear it on the news as well?’

Newt refocused on chopping meat instead of answering Tina’s question. It had started three years ago, shortly after Carnelian was born. He had started to listen to the news every morning and night. There was something inside him that didn’t trust others to protect his family. He couldn’t be sure that Theseus or Dumbledore would tell him in time. If he heard it himself, Newt could prepare for what was coming, ensure that he was keeping Tina and Carnelian safe.

Newt’s refusal to answer did not go over Tina’s head. He felt her arms wrap around his chest, underneath his own arms, as she leant into his back, laying her head on his left shoulder. Warmth radiated off her, warming him despite the chill in the basement.

‘Don’t force me out, Newt. We’re a team, remember?’ Tina said.

Newt placed the chopping knife down and used his free right hand to squeeze Tina’s left hand. He tilted his head, so it was resting on top of Tina’s, seeking the comfort that came with her touch.

‘I just want to protect you and Carnelian,’ he said, ‘and hearing the news informs me of what’s coming.’

‘You’re too sweet,’ Tina said, pressing a kiss to his cheek, ‘but can you worry a little less? Barely anyone knows where our house is, thanks to the Fidelius Charm, and Dumbledore is never going to give the secret up. We’re safe.’

Tina always knew how to calm him, and this was no exception. He knew that she would be calm in the face of danger; it was basically a requirement for being an Auror. But it surprised him every day how she could encourage him to feel the same. It wasn’t just her words, but her tone and her presence that made Newt feel better about the state of the world.

He gave her hand another squeeze, hopefully passing on that she had reassured him, at least for now. As always, she understood the unspoken cues, sliding her hands back to her sides and moving off him. Newt immediately missed the feeling of her body against his, and the warmth that came with. Trying to focus back on what he was doing before Tina had come downstairs, he started slicing the last bits of meat.

A loud grunt and an exclaim from Tina made him spin around, knife in hand. Carnelian had wriggled his way out of Dougal’s grasp and was speeding under a desk towards the Nundu, as fast as his little legs could take him. The Nundu, even after three years, had not adjusted to Carnelian’s existence. This was unfortunate, as Carnelian had decided to designate it his favourite beast and wanted to play with it all the time.

Neither Newt nor Tina were in a position to stop Carnelian in time. Newt frantically looked around for where he had put his wand, but he couldn’t find it in his vicinity. Tina appeared to have left her wand upstairs. She gave Newt a terrified look, and he forgot about the wand, instead trying to navigate his way around the tables to intercept Carnelian, but his progress wasn’t fast enough.

The Nundu had just noticed Carnelian, and had arched its back, teeth bared in an aggressive manner. Carnelian wasn’t fazed, continuing forward, only steps away from the Nundu. Newt gave up trying to reach his son, instead picking up some tools on the table to throw at the Nundu as distraction. He had just taken aim when a blur of golden fur rushed past him.

The blur reached Carnelian before he could get into the Nundu’s range. It kept moving, carrying Carnelian with it, stopping a few metres away from Tina. It was Mildred, the Wampus cat, holding the back of Carnelian’s shirt in her mouth, warily eyeing the Nundu, which had settled down slightly.

‘Oh, thank god you were paying attention,’ Tina said to Mildred, sweeping Carnelian into her arms.

Mildred purred in response, licking Carnelian’s cheek a few times, as if to make sure she had indeed succeeded in rescuing the small boy. Dougal took the opportunity to scratch Mildred behind the ears as a way of saying thank you.

Newt walked over and placed a hand on Tina’s shoulder, hoping the gesture was comforting. He then gave his sternest look at Carnelian.

‘Carnelian, what did we tell you about the Nundu?’

‘Leave it ‘lone,’ Carnelian muttered.

‘So why did you try to run towards it?’ Tina asked.

‘Iz cute. Wanna cuddle it,’ Carnelian replied.

Tina looked up at Newt, eyes wide in exasperation. They’d had this conversation more times than he could count since Carnelian had decided the Nundu was his favourite. Newt had hoped some of the many skills he had accrued looking after beasts would carry over to raising a child, but he was regularly disappointed in that regard.

Tina hefted Carnelian back onto her hip, both arms held tight around his small form. It was time to take him back upstairs before he upset the Nundu again. Dougal followed her. She moved to walk up the stairs but stopped on the bottom step.

‘Remember that Jacob’s coming around in an hour or so. I don’t want you to be fiddling down here when he arrives,’ she said sternly.

‘I wouldn’t dare, ma’am,’ Newt said teasingly.

Tina gave him a threatening stare and walked up the stairs, Dougal climbing on the railing beside her. Newt watched her go, a smile finding its way onto his face. The last three years of working against Grindelwald and trying to raise Carnelian had been nothing short of stressful, but he would never say that it wasn’t worth every second.

He finished slicing the meat, slipping a small piece to Mildred as a thank you. He collected the rest of the slices into a steel bucket, ready to make the feeding rounds, so that he could be ready for when Jacob arrived.

*******

‘Who’s my favourite godson?’ Jacob said excitedly.

Carnelian rushed into Jacob’s outstretched arms and allowed Jacob to pick him up.

‘I is! I is!’ Carnelian shouted as Jacob spun him around.

Newt watched on with amusement. He sometimes thought that Carnelian liked Jacob more than him; his son certainly acted like he did.

‘You got present for me?’ Carnelian asked when Jacob put him down again.

‘Carnelian, you shouldn’t expect a present every time Jacob comes to visit,’ Tina scolded.

Tina’s words didn’t faze Carnelian in the slightest. He continued to look up at Jacob expectantly, as if he could make a gift appear from thin air. Which he had done once before, except the gift had immediately caught fire, and had taken Newt and Tina an entire afternoon to repair the damage.

Of course, Jacob was the most over-indulgent godfather on the planet, so he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small wrapped gift. Carnelian snatched it from his hands and started tearing the paper off. Inside was a small toy horse that moved up and down. Carnelian squealed in excitement, running into the living room to play with it.

‘My scolding doesn’t work as well when you immediately undermine it,’ Tina huffed.

‘What can I say? I love the little guy!’ Jacob said, an unapologetic smile on his face.

‘Do you want some tea? I was just making some for Tina,’ Newt asked, before Tina could respond.

‘If it’s no problem,’ Jacob said.

Newt went to the kitchen to prepare the tea, while Tina led Jacob into the living room to look after Carnelian. After a few moments, while he was letting the tea brew, Jacob came into the kitchen.

‘Your kid has so much energy,’ Jacob said, chuckling slightly.

‘I’m not entirely sure where it comes from. Tina and I are both reasonably calm,’ Newt said.

‘I think it’s just kids.’

Newt laughed in agreement. He stirred the tea he had made slightly and handed one of the cups to Jacob. The two of them stood in comfortable silence for a moment until Newt noticed Jacob shifting awkwardly.

‘Did you come in here to speak with me without Tina?’ Newt asked.

The look Jacob gave him was one of such surprise that it confirmed Newt’s theory. He tried not to be too offended at Jacob’s surprise that he had caught on to what Jacob was thinking. Newt may not be the most socially confident of people, but even he could pick up on obvious cues. He gave Jacob a stern look that had been used plenty of times of Carnelian.

‘Uh, yeah, I did,’ Jacob said.

Newt raised his eyebrows while taking a sip of his tea, urging Jacob to continue. Jacob fortunately picked up on it and placed his mug on the counter.

‘Theseus wanted me to ask – and I’m curious myself, to be completely honest – when you were going to propose to Tina.’

Any tea that had made it from the mug to Newt’s mouth was spat out across the floor in surprise. The question had caught Newt completely off-guard. He had thought the whole marriage debate he’d been having with his brother and Jacob had gone onto the backburner. If he was honest, he had been so focused on raising Carnelian and spending time with Tina that he’d forgotten about marriage completely.

That thought made Newt chuckle inwardly. Only a few years ago he had been desperately worried about what high society thought of his strange living arrangement. A few near-death encounters with Grindelwald and Dementors put it all into perspective however, and now Newt was not so bothered about it all.

‘I don’t know, Jacob. I haven’t given it much thought.’

Jacob surprisingly did not seem shocked at his answer. He nodded slowly, accepting Newt’s words with ease.

‘I told Theseus as much. You and Tina have a good thing going.’

‘Can you two get back in here? I don’t appreciate being left with a three-year-old for conversation!’ Tina shouted from the living room, interrupting their conversation. Both Newt and Jacob called back confirmations, and Newt rewarmed the tea he had made for her with a flick of his wand. As they walked back into the living room, Jacob held Newt back for a moment.

‘Just… think about the marriage stuff, alright?’

Newt gave a half-smile in acknowledgement before joining in with Tina and Carnelian.

*******

The day had passed quickly. Jacob had been able to spend some time with his Godson, and Newt and Tina were able to relax a bit from parenting, instead enjoying the company of a friend. It was now late in the evening, with Carnelian put to bed. Tina had placed a Warning Charm in his room in case anything went wrong, and Dougal was also in the room, keeping watch. For now, Newt, Jacob and Tina could relax with some vintage firewhiskey, engaged in discussion.

‘How bad is it? Newt and I have been reasonably far removed from the resistance to Grindelwald,’ Tina asked. Jacob’s expression darkened, and the jolly air of the evening dampened slightly.

‘It’s bad. Really bad. Another wizarding bank in France crashed, just last week. Now there’s this breakout from the German prison; it’s all been pretty stressful for Dumbledore and Theseus.’

‘How badly are people being affected by these bank crashes? We seem to be no worse,’ Newt asked.

‘A lot of people are losing a lot of money, in both wizarding and non-wizarding areas. Gringotts got lucky, as the goblins were at least slightly prepared for something going wrong. Places like Germany have it awful. The majority of people have lost all the money they had stored.

‘It’s forcing them out onto the street, where Grindelwald sweeps them up. His movement is getting more and more successful. My lot are getting the blame for this, just as he wanted,’ Jacob said, bitterness sneaking into his tone.

‘We always knew Grindelwald would manipulate this situation into anti-Muggle propaganda,’ Tina said, not unkindly.

‘Yeah, I know. It just feels gross that someone could use a crisis like this as a political move,’ Jacob said.

Newt raised his glass slightly in agreement. It kept him awake at night, the idea that Grindelwald could see a humanitarian crisis like the bank crisis and see it only as a positive. Sometimes it made him wonder why Queenie was still with him. Did she now support him completely? Why else would she have made no contact in the seven years since the events in Paris?

He never voiced these concerns about Queenie to Tina or Jacob. They both had deeper emotional connections to her and needed no reminding of why she wasn’t here with them, trying to make sense of a three-year-old’s thoughts. Queenie’s choices had been made many years ago, and they were set in stone now. There was nothing more to add about them.

‘Right, it’s getting late. I should be getting back before Theseus sends an Auror team to rescue me from Nurmengard,’ Jacob said, glancing at the clock on the wall.

‘It was a pleasure to see you again,’ Newt said, pulling Jacob into a strong hug.

‘Just put a ring on her, okay?’ Jacob whispered into Newt’s ear before pulling away.

Newt watched as Jacob gave his goodbyes to Tina and accepted an order he wouldn’t follow about giving gifts to Carnelian, but his thoughts were on the future, and marriage. Should he propose to Tina? She was the love of his life, without a single doubt. It just seemed a little strange to do it after seven years of a relationship and a son.

However, as Jacob gave him an extremely unsubtle glare, shifting his gaze between Tina and Newt as he left the home, Newt realised there was no question. He should propose to Tina. For once, letting the world know a detail about his private life didn’t seem so bad. Their relationship should be made as legitimate as possible, through every legal avenue. Tina was his partner, and he didn’t want to hide it anymore. Grindelwald may be growing stronger, and the world more dangerous and uncertain, but Newt _could_ be certain of one thing: his relationship with Tina.

Now all he needed was a ring and some time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 of After CoG - Part 2 is here!  
> I hope you all enjoy, and stick around for the rest of the chapters, because there are some good moments coming.  
> Uploads could be quite erratic for a while as Uni is a nightmare.
> 
> Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated.  
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Troubling Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theseus and Dumbledore are given troubling news by two Ministry officials.

Theseus

_It was getting late, Rudolph Spielman noticed. He hated spending so much time in the office, but it was the unfortunate side effect of being the Chancellor for Magic. It was only made worse by the Grindelwald problem, which had been plaguing him since his election in 1931. It had plagued his predecessor as well, but it had been getting progressively worse as time went on, and both he and his administration were lost as to how to deal with it. Not to mention that two of Germany’s three major wizarding banks had collapsed completely, and the third was on the brink of a similar fate._

_His wife had told him not to run for Chancellor, but he had ignored her warnings, convinced he could make a difference in the fight against Grindelwald. That thought had been proven wrong several times since, most recently in a giant prison breakout of Grindelwald’s followers._

_The creak of his door opening pulled Spielman out of his thoughts. He looked up, expecting to see one of his aides preparing to tell him about some new disaster. However, what he saw was worse. Gellert Grindelwald himself was standing his doorway, wand held between two hands._

_‘Guards!’ Spielman shouted._

_‘I wouldn’t bother, Chancellor Spielman. I’ve placed a Silencing Charm around your office. No one can hear you,’ Grindelwald said, a cold smile creeping across his face._

_‘Why are you here, Grindelwald?’_

_‘It’s a long story, Chancellor. I don’t want to bore you.’_

_‘I have time,’ Spielman said, trying to buy time to find his wand. Grindelwald chuckled at this, shaking his head slowly._

_‘Unfortunately, you don’t.’_

_‘Then tell me why. It’s not as if I will be able to tell anyone.’_

_‘So be it. I have plans, Chancellor Spielman, plans that are endangered by your leadership of Germany. I need things to work exactly as planned here, and the only way to ensure this is to remove you.’_

_‘I’m flattered you think I’m so competent,’ Spielman said, finding his wand under a folder on his desk._

_Grindelwald smiled softly, raising his wand to cast what surely was the Killing Curse. Spielman pulled his wand out, firing a Stunning Spell at Grindelwald. He was too quick, deflecting the spell away from himself, firing a curse of his own with lightning speed. Spielman barely got a Shield Charm up in time to stop it from hitting him._

_‘Such fight, Chancellor Spielman! This will be more exciting than I thought!’ Grindelwald shouted, tangible glee in his voice at the prospect._

_Spielman gave Grindelwald no answer, gritting his teeth and firing the Body-Bind and Conjunctivitis Curses in quick succession, hoping to catch Grindelwald out. He should’ve known this would fail, Grindelwald sending the Body-Bind Curse back at him and stopping the Conjunctivitis Curse with a Shield Charm. Spielman couldn’t stop his own Body-Bind in time and it struck him in the chest, snapping his arms to his sides and locking his legs together._

_Unable to balance, his body fell backwards, colliding hard with the ground. Grindelwald stepped over his frozen body, looking down at him with mock pity._

_‘A shame, Chancellor. I expected better,’ he said with faux sadness._

_Spielman fought the Curse as Grindelwald raised his wand once again, desperately trying to break through the unseen barriers locking his body together. He tried twisting, turning, and pushing, slowly panicking as his body failed to respond at all. He looked up again, fear in his heart, and the last thing he saw was a flash of green light._

*******

The staff room was in a state of uproar. The news of the murder of Rudolph Spielman had broken that morning, and now it was all any of the staff wanted to talk about, especially to either Theseus or Dumbledore, as they were known to be the ones fighting against Grindelwald. Dumbledore, as usual, hadn’t appeared in the staff room all morning, leaving Theseus to try and deflect away conversation. The news about Spielman was immensely concerning, but his co-workers were not the ones he wanted to talk about it with. Jacob was also absent, but Theseus assumed he was doing his own thing; he didn’t come to the staff room all that much.

The only teacher who seemed remarkably unconcerned about the whole ordeal was the new Potions Master, Horace Slughorn, who was sitting by the fire eating crystallised pineapples as breakfast. For the first time since Slughorn had been hired, Theseus wished the other professors would follow his example.

He understood why they wanted to know what was going on, and why so many of Grindelwald’s attacks and murders seem to centre around Germany, but he couldn’t tell them. A lot of the time he didn’t even know the reasoning behind Grindelwald’s actions.

Professor Murdoch suddenly asked him when Dumbledore was going to fight Grindelwald himself. Not wanting to get into that discussion at all, Theseus excused himself from the staff room. He wanted to find Dumbledore to discuss the murder of Spielman with someone who might understand the reason behind it.

The halls of Hogwarts had smatterings of students heading to breakfast. It was still early in the morning, hence why the staff had been in the staff room rather than the Great Hall. Most students didn’t drag themselves out of bed until eight o’clock. However, there were still the early-risers, and Theseus gave a greeting to the students that he passed in the hallways.

It didn’t take Theseus long to reach Dumbledore’s office. He had walked the route so many times that it was automatic for him now. He knocked on the door, and heard Dumbledore call for him to enter.

Theseus was caught immediately off-guard when he entered and was greeted with the sight of Torquil Travers, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, and another older man with messy black hair with streaks of grey, and a serious look on his face. Theseus recognised him, but he couldn’t place why.

‘Ah, Theseus. Just the man I wanted to see,’ Dumbledore said, beaming at him.

‘What’s going on here?’ Theseus asked.

‘Travers, Mr Potter and I were just having a discussion about Chancellor Spielman’s unfortunate fate,’ Dumbledore said, gesturing to Travers and the black-haired man.

Theseus realised why he recognised the man. He was Henry Potter, former member of the Wizengamot and current liaison to the Muggle Prime Minister of Britain.

‘Theseus Scamander? The former Head Auror?’ Potter asked, looking between Travers and Dumbledore.

‘Yes. He quit to become the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor here at Hogwarts,’ Travers said, a coldness in his tone. He never had quite accepted the fact that Theseus had left the Head Auror position.

‘Why is he here?’ Potter said, turning to Dumbledore.

‘Do you think I work entirely by myself, Mr Potter? Theseus is a valuable ally and a good friend. He has as much right to be here as I,’ Dumbledore said.

Potter made no attempt to argue further. Dumbledore waved his wand, conjuring a third chair beside Potter. He gestured for Theseus to sit down, so Theseus did so. Content that everyone was doing exactly as he would like, Dumbledore continued.

‘Travers, I believe that before Theseus arrived you were telling me something important?’

Travers glanced briefly at Theseus with annoyance before speaking.

‘I was. Henry here thinks that there is a much more complicated reason for Grindelwald to assassinate Spielman than just to upset the German Magical Parliament. I believe you can take it from here, Henry?’

Theseus looked to Henry Potter, curious as to what information he could have so soon after Spielman’s death. Theseus and Dumbledore managed an extremely large information network, but even they had heard no news relating to Spielman’s death, other than the fact that he was dead.

‘Spielman was heavily opposed to the Muggle Chancellor of Germany,’ Potter said, looking very grave. ‘We now think that Grindelwald is trying to sponsor the rise of this Chancellor.’

Theseus shared a look of incredulity with Dumbledore. It was hard to believe that Grindelwald would have interest in supporting a Muggle’s rise through their own political sphere. Could there be some benefit to be gained from supporting the Muggle? Theseus struggled to see what that benefit could possibly be.

Potter noticed that neither Theseus nor Dumbledore were all that believing of what he was saying. His expression somehow grew graver from an already grave expression in response.

‘I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Grindelwald is facilitating the rise of this Muggle.’

Theseus liked to think that he was a good judge of the truth, but Potter’s story was testing this theory. Potter seemed sincere about this threat, but Theseus still had his doubts.

‘Why are you so certain this is a relevant threat?’ Theseus asked.

‘Because the Muggle is building a platform based upon hatred and rampant nationalism,’ Potter replied. ‘There have been whisperings around the Muggle government of Britain that it could lead to a repeat of the Great War.’

Theseus’ blood ran cold. The Great War had been one of the worst experiences of his life; throughout his time fighting he had expected death around every corner. It was worse than the current campaign against Grindelwald because not only was it dangerous, but he had been forced to live in dingy, cramped trenches, where the spread of disease was rife, and he could barely use any magic, due to the number of Muggles about.

As he unhappily remembered the Great War, another thought shot into his head, something Newt had told him after the events in Paris, all those years ago. He said that Grindelwald had shown them all a vision, of another war that was supposedly coming if Grindelwald did not get his way. Suddenly, Theseus made the link.

‘Oh god, Mr Potter’s right; Grindelwald is trying to ensure this Muggle succeeds,’ Theseus said.

Potter looked at him with an impressed look, while Travers looked at him as if he had said something completely insane. Dumbledore’s face stayed expressionless, but Theseus swore he saw a sharpness suddenly appear in his eyes.

‘Why are you giving this information to Theseus and I? Surely it is only meant to be heard by the Ministry's top officials?’ Dumbledore asked.

Travers looked distinctly unhappy at the question, as if he was dreading the answer. Potter took a sharp intake of breath.

‘The Ministry isn’t secure,’ Travers hissed, ‘there have been far too many leaks. Grindelwald somehow knows what we’re doing before most of my department even know.’

‘We think – yes, we, Travers – that your movement against Grindelwald is the last group that can possibly take him down. Especially since you seem to know about every major attack before it happens,’ Potter said.

‘Grindelwald is not the only one that has sources all over the continent,’ Dumbledore said, a slight twinkle in his eye.

Potter shared a look with Travers, seemingly uncertain how to take Dumbledore’s statement. They appeared to decide not to address it, both standing up from their seats.

‘Thank you for giving us some of your valuable time, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Scamander,’ Potter said politely, firmly shaking Theseus’ hand.

Travers said nothing, merely grumbling under his breath as he left Dumbledore’s office. Potter gave them an apologetic smile and followed after Travers, leaving Theseus and Dumbledore alone in the office.

‘Why are you suddenly so sure that Grindelwald is trying to support the rise of this Chancellor?’ Dumbledore asked, peering at Theseus with inquisitive eyes.

‘When Henry Potter mentioned that there were murmurings of another Great War, I remembered something Newt had told me about Grindelwald’s Paris rally,’ Theseus said.

‘The vision he showed them of another war?’

‘Yes. I think Grindelwald’s trying to make this second war happen to garner mainstream support for his cause.’

‘I came to the same conclusion. However, it doesn’t worry me as much as hearing Torquil Travers admit that the Ministry has a major security issue. For him to say such a thing means it must be far worse than we had previously thought.’

Dumbledore was right. They had stopped trusting the Ministry years ago, with Dumbledore claiming there was a leak. But Theseus had always thought that it was a small leak, one they couldn’t risk springing, but it shouldn’t cause too many issues outside of events directly relating to Grindelwald. Now it seemed that the Ministry as a whole was becoming an extremely dangerous place to put trust in.

‘We should be far more careful about what we involve the Gadeon twins in now. They still work for the Ministry,’ Theseus said. He didn’t like that he had to say it, but Ministry employees were now suspicious until proven otherwise.

‘I agree, but it thins our numbers and the number of capable duellers we have,’ Dumbledore said. ‘We will need someone to take their place, at least until the Gadeon twins can be cleared of any suspicion.’

‘Do you have any idea who?’ Theseus asked, curious of how many people Dumbledore could pull out of the woodwork.

‘I do indeed, and I know who will find them for me. But don’t ask any questions, you must trust me on this,’ Dumbledore said.

Theseus would’ve liked to know who Dumbledore was talking about, but he knew better than to argue. Many of Dumbledore’s plans had been done on a need-to-know basis, and almost all had succeeded. It was far safer to limit the number of people who knew about a mission.

‘I suppose we don’t need to discuss what happened to Chancellor Spielman now,’ Theseus said, half-jokingly.

‘No, we don’t. But it is a great shame. He was a good man, which is not something you can say about many in the world of politics,’ Dumbledore said, his expression sad.

Theseus immediately felt guilty about making any semblance of a joke. He had always enjoyed working with Spielman when on international assignments, and there had always been a degree of mutual respect between them, which was rare in Theseus’ old line of work.

‘Ah, it’s about time for all the students to be getting their breakfast,’ Dumbledore said, breaking Theseus out of his reverie, ‘shall we go and supervise?’

‘I think that may be best. Also, I’m getting hungry. Do you think Horace would give me some of his crystallised pineapple?’ Theseus asked.

‘I don’t think Grindelwald himself could part Horace Slughorn from his crystallised pineapple,’ Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling in jest.

With a hearty laugh, the two of them set off for the Great Hall.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but it's here!  
> I know these first 2 chapters have been short, but I don't want to artificially inflate word count by waffling on.  
> The next chapter will be longer, and a little more exciting.  
> It's my first ever double POV chapter, with a bit from Newt's POV, and a bit from Tina's.  
> Uploads still won't be consistent for a while, but the Uni holidays draw ever nearer, and I'll have plenty of free time to write!
> 
> Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated.  
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Terror in the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A terror attack on the Ministry leads to a new mission for Newt and Tina.

Newt & Tina

A voice called in the elevator for the second floor, and Newt stepped out into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He clutched the handle of his case tightly as he walked out into the maze of cubicles used by the Department’s employees. He had been called on by Alison McIntosh, the Head Auror, to catch a Hippogriff that was living dangerously close to a Muggle community. Newt didn’t enjoy working for the Ministry, but McIntosh had sounded at the end of her rope in the letters she had sent. He also knew he was the best for the job, as Aurors and other wizarding law enforcers tended to kill the creature rather than bring it in.

Pickett the Bowtruckle chirped from his outer coat pocket, so Newt lifted him up and put him in his inner pocket. He had a feeling the Ministry of Magic wouldn’t take kindly to a magical beast loose in its headquarters, despite the fact Pickett was harmless.

Newt knew his way around the cubicle maze to the Head Auror’s office like the back of his hand. When his brother Theseus had occupied the office, he had found himself called to the office often. In typical Theseus fashion, it was usually for no reason other than family bonding, but Newt was no stranger to trouble, and had certainly been called to the office for (usually beast-related) incidents he had caused.

Almost automatically, Newt reached the door of the Head Auror’s office. The door was no longer labelled ‘Theseus Scamander’; now it had an engraved copper nameplate that read ‘Alison McIntosh: Head Auror’. He gave the door a light knock and waited for an answer.

‘It’s unlocked,’ said a female voice with a noticeable Glaswegian accent.

Newt opened the door and walked into the office. Sitting behind a brown desk was a young woman, no older than twenty-five in Newt’s eyes, wearing a double-breasted chestnut coat. She had dark brown hair, styled in a messy pageboy style. She hadn’t looked up from the documents she was looking over studiously to acknowledge him, so Newt coughed loudly. The woman looked up, almost startled, revealing dull-blue eyes. However, behind her eyes was a piercing gaze, one Newt normally associated with Dumbledore. She studied him for a moment longer, before her eyes widened in realisation.

‘Oh! Mr Scamander! Please, take a seat. I’m Head Auror McIntosh,’ she said, gesturing to a seat in front of her desk.

Newt obliged, shaking her hand before sitting down and placing his case beside him.

‘Is the Hippogriff contained?’ McIntosh asked.

‘Yes, I managed to calm him down,’ Newt replied.

‘May I ask where he is now?’

‘He’s in my case currently, but I will be taking him back to my beast sanctuary.’

McIntosh looked at him strangely, before picking up her wand. She pointed it at Newt’s case and muttered some spells under her breath. Newt let a hand drift down to place on his case in a protective gesture.

‘Seems like you’ve got a lot of illegal extension charms in that case of yours, Mr Scamander,’ McIntosh said.

Newt could feel his heart-rate increase. He was afraid that she would try to confiscate his case, which had not only a Hippogriff contained within it, but several other beasts he was keeping an eye on. He didn’t want to get into a conflict with the Ministry, but he was willing to fight to protect the beasts. McIntosh seemed to notice this, and she quickly put her wand in her pocket.

‘I’m not going to confiscate it, Mr Scamander! It’s hard enough fighting the Ministry’s enemies at the moment, I don’t need to aggravate our friends as well!’

Newt moved his hand away from his case. His heartbeat slowly calmed back down, but it had woken Pickett up, who poked his head up from Newt’s collar. McIntosh saw the Bowtruckle and smiled. To Newt’s surprise, Pickett appeared to smile back.

‘Ah, he’s a wee cutie, isn’t he?’ McIntosh asked.

‘I think he prefers to be thought of as tough,’ Newt said, smiling. He felt much better around McIntosh now that Pickett seemed to like her. He had always found that Bowtruckles were much better at sensing someone’s character than humans.

‘Well, I best be going. My case is only a temporary holding measure for the Hippogriff,’ Newt said.

‘Aye, best be getting it to a good home,’ McIntosh said. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

Newt picked up his case and stood up. McIntosh followed suit and walked around her desk to open her office door. She gestured for Newt to lead the way, so he left the room, McIntosh closing the door behind him.

The Auror area appeared to have become busier in the brief time Newt had been in McIntosh’s office. He stopped, stunned by the seething mass of people rushing about with papers and shouting at others. He was pulled out of his stunned state when McIntosh stepped up beside him.

‘It’s hell out here, I know. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but the Department isn’t coping very well with the threat of Grindelwald. Travers is up to his neck in paperwork, and I was only made Head Auror because all of the senior Aurors declined to take the position. I can barely handle the workload, especially since someone with ten years more Auror experience should have my job.’

Newt listened to McIntosh’s words with disbelief. The threat of Grindelwald was a serious one, he knew that well enough, but it was hard to swallow the fact that it was sending the usually organised Department of Magical Law Enforcement into chaos was troubling, to say the least. It was even harder to believe that Alison McIntosh, someone that looked a decade younger than even him, oversaw the Aurors. He couldn’t even get Theseus’ opinion on her, because she wouldn’t have been working in the Aurors during his tenure as Head Auror.

‘I’m sorry to hear that, Auror McIntosh. You must be under a lot of pressure,’ Newt said.

‘Pressure is an understatement,’ said McIntosh, giving a mirthless laugh, ‘and please, call me Alison. McIntosh is far too serious.’

‘I think your line of work is meant to be serious,’ Newt said jokingly.

‘Aye, don’t remind me, Mr Scamander,’ Alison said.

Pickett poked his head up from Newt’s inner pocket and chirped at Alison. She gave the Bowtruckle another smile. She looked at Newt, her expression asking if she could hold Pickett. Newt nodded, certain that Pickett could look after himself if something went wrong. Alison held out a hand to Newt’s chest, and Pickett clambered out from Newt’s coat onto it.

Alison pet the top of Pickett’s head with her finger, beaming at the small creature. Newt smiled at the scene. He was so used to people being apprehensive or even scared of his beasts that it was a pleasant surprise to have someone treat one as they would a cat.

‘I always loved the Bowtruckles in Care of Magical Creatures back at school,’ Alison said. ‘I think I wanted to be a Magizoologist.’

This piqued Newt’s curiosity. There weren’t many that were very keen on entering the field of Magizoology, but despite the fact Alison had been one of the few that were, she had become an Auror nonetheless.

‘Why did you become an Auror then?’ Newt asked.

‘My marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts were better, and Grindelwald’s regime was only getting more powerful during my time at Hogwarts. I guess I saw it as something that I wanted to help with.’

Newt nodded and said no more, allowing Alison to play around with Pickett as they walked towards the elevator. He was still extremely wary of the Ministry after Dumbledore and Theseus’ warnings about the leaks from within, but Alison appeared to be trustworthy enough. Unless she happened to be a good enough spy to not only fool him, but Pickett as well.

The elevator was in sight when there was a booming sound that reverberated through the floor. It was swiftly followed by a violent shaking, powerful enough to send Newt and Alison flying to the floor. The shaking continued, making the floor move backwards and forwards, swiftly like the tides. Newt couldn’t keep himself steady enough to stand up, instead submitting to the force, letting the floor throw him around like a ragdoll. He hit his right shoulder painfully on a cubicle wall, sending jarring pain shooting through his body. He placed his arms around his head as best he could, gritting his teeth through the pain, hoping to protect his head. Another shake of the building sent Newt rolling at speed towards another cubicle. He braced for the inevitable impact.

His roll was stopped, and he found himself being hoisted to his feet by an unnatural force pulling at his shoulders. It was pulling hard, sending more pain darting through his right side. The force lowered his feet to the ground as another bout of shaking hit the building; fortunately, Newt was able to use the cubicle wall he had almost hit to steady himself.

‘Mr Scamander! Are you alright?’

Newt looked up to see Alison McIntosh pointing her wand in his direction, his case in her other hand, Pickett on her shoulder. He slowly released his grip on the cubicle wall and walked over to her, taking each step slowly in case the floor started to move again.

‘What’s going on?’ Newt asked, taking his case and Pickett back from Alison.

‘The Ministry’s under attack,’ Alison said, ‘it’s followers of Grindelwald. They’ve got past the security measures.’

Newt pulled his wand out of his coat. He had faced off against Grindelwald’s acolytes before. He knew what they were capable of. If he was going to escape the Ministry, he was going to have to fight his way out.

‘Stay with me, Mr Scamander, I’ll get you and your beasts out of here,’ Alison said, a determined look on her face and a tight grip on her wand.

Newt followed Alison past the elevator and to a closed door behind it. Alison tapped at the handle with her wand, causing the door to click and swing open, revealing a staircase.

‘I never knew there was a staircase in the Ministry,’ Newt said.

‘It’s for emergencies like these, where elevator use is not advised,’ Alison said.

With that, Alison started running down the stairs. Newt held open a pocket for Pickett to jump into, not wanting him to get hurt or lost in the rush. Once he was certain Pickett was settled, he followed Alison down the stairs.

About halfway down the staircase, the building started to violently shake again. Newt was thrown against the wall, causing his right shoulder to sear with pain again. He gripped the handrail tightly as the building continued to shake, trying to stay upright. Alison was doing the same. They stood on the stairs, knuckles turning white with their hold on the railing, until the shaking stopped. Alison immediately started running down the stairs again. Newt followed as fast as he could, but each footfall onto a step sent a sting of pain through his injured shoulder, slowing his progress.

To Newt’s mind, the stairs continued forever; this wasn’t true, however, as the two of them reached the bottom. The sounds of battle boomed through the thin door, screams and yells, explosions and fire filling Newt’s ears. Alison stepped up to the door, wand in her hand, and looked back at Newt.

‘You ready?’ she asked.

Newt pulled his own wand out, holding his case in his left hand, and nodded.

‘Stick with me,’ Alison said, pushing the door open.

The two of them walked out into complete chaos. Dark smoke clouded Newt’s vision, causing his eyes to sting and water. Through his watery eyes he could see the flashes of magical projectiles flying through the smoke. He noticed a few of them flying towards him, so he raised his wand in an attempt to block them, but before he could cast anything a white shield appeared in front of him. The projectiles collided with it, exploding with bright bursts of red and orange.

Newt raised his wand and fired some curses back in the direction the attack came from. He couldn’t see any of the assailants, but he assumed that they could see him. Another round of spells flew out the smoke in response. Newt swiped his wand down, creating a protective barrier to stop the spells. Alison moved to his left and launched a series of jinxes and curses into the smoke. Newt moved to the right of where he was standing and did the same.

 Instead of any spells being cast in return, three figures in heavy black cloaks emerged, wisps of smoke swirling off their bodies. Alison and Newt both fired off curses in quick succession, but two of the cloaked figures pulled their wands up, creating a protective barrier of their own. The third figure, in the middle, raised his wand and sliced it down in a lightning shape, casting the Killing Curse, causing a green light to fire out of the end of his wand. Newt dived onto the ground to avoid the deadly spell, landing roughly on the cracked floor. His body erupted with pain, emanating from his right shoulder, causing a scream to pass unresisted through his lips.

Newt’s eyes watered. He placed his hands in front of him and pushed himself up, desperately trying to ignore the way pain sprung out all over him, like thousands of sharp knives being stabbed and twisted into his body. Standing up, he couldn’t get a sense of his bearings, with his head pounding harder and harder, louder and louder with every new stimulus his brain registered. He stumbled around slightly, only vaguely hearing the chirps of a worried Bowtruckle coming from his pocket.

A pair of hands slid under his armpits and around his chest, pulling him backwards towards their owner.

‘I’ve got you, Mr Scamander!’ shouted a voice with a Glaswegian accent.

Strands of brown hair fluttered in Newt’s vision as Alison McIntosh hauled him away from the action. He felt his body being laid upon the ground. He tried to get himself up; he needed to help, most of the people in the Ministry had never fought Grindelwald before. However, his body didn’t have the energy, the raging inferno of pain within tiring him.

Through the watery distortion of tears, he could see Alison standing alongside a few others that he assumed were Aurors waving their wands in offensive motions towards dark figures in the corners of his vision. One of the Aurors collapsed with the impact of a spell and the dark figures moved closer. One of them noticed Newt’s prone form and stepped up to him. Newt tried to move, to grab his wand or a stone to defend himself but any movement sent another surge of burning pain shuddering through his body. He closed his eyes, accepting the fate that was coming to him when there was a scream.

A loud explosion of noise erupted in front of him, an ear-splitting sound that pounded in Newt’s skull. As the sound echoed, he realised that he was no longer on the ground, instead he had a feeling of floating, as if someone had cast a Levitation Charm on him. It was almost calming, despite the grievous pain he was in. He slipped into an almost peaceful state until his body collided with something hard, followed by a fierce pain in the back of his head as it collided with the same thing. He slumped to the ground as everything slipped into darkness.

*******

Tina rushed through the entrance of St. Mungo’s into the busy reception area, Theseus and Jacob on her heels. Not caring for etiquette, she pushed through the line of people waiting to be seen to reach the front desk. The receptionist looked at her with a glare and opened her mouth, likely to tell Tina to go to the back of the line.

‘My name is Tina Goldstein and I’m here to see Newt Scamander!’ Tina shouted over the noise of the hospital before the receptionist could say anything.

The receptionist’s hostile demeanour almost instantly changed. She pulled her wand out and sent a small ball of light flying out of it into the fireplace. Tina watched as only a few seconds later the fireplace erupted into green flame and a harried Mediwitch stepped out.

‘Ms Goldstein and your friends, with me, please,’ said the Mediwitch.

Tina, Theseus and Jacob followed the Mediwitch at a brisk pace. Tina was still unsure of St Mungo’s layout for each department, but she knew from working with Dumbledore and Newt that the first floor was for creature damage, and the fourth was for spell damage. Therefore, Newt was most likely on the fourth floor.

 Tina had been at home with Carnelian, entertaining Newt’s parents, when Theseus’ lion Patronus had flown in through the window and told her that Grindelwald’s acolytes had attacked the Ministry and that Newt had been admitted to St Mungo’s for injuries sustained in the attack. She had immediately gone to meet Theseus and Jacob at St Mungo’s, leaving Carnelian in the care of his grandparents.

They reached a flight of stairs which the Mediwitch started ascending. Tina followed behind quickly. She barely felt her feet hit the hard stone of the steps, as if her desperation to see Newt was allowing her to float. The stairs kept going, up and up, showing no signs of stopping. The panic in Tina’s mind started to raise. What if Newt was in the middle of a fight for his life and she wasn’t there for him? She could never forgive herself.

Tina’s panic was tempered slightly by the stairs finally finishing, the top of the staircase opening out into a tight corridor. At the end of the corridor was a small yellow door. Curiously, Tina noticed it had no handle. The Mediwitch did not seem bothered by this inconvenience, stepping up to the door and tapping her wand onto it three times.

‘Felicity Greenwald, escorting Porpentina Goldstein, Theseus Scamander, and Unnamed Visitor to Newt Scamander,’ said the Mediwitch.

The door glowed with a blinding light, shining with white light into Tina’s vision even with her eyes closed. She was forced to cover her eyelids with her hands to stop it from blinding her. As the light slowly faded away, Tina felt secure enough to open her eyes again. Where once there had been a small yellow door without a handle, there was now a grey door with a small handle.

‘Go on through, Mr Scamander’s room is through the door. We use it to get people past crowds of people quickly,’ the Mediwitch said.

Tina didn’t bother to respond, instead hauling the door open and stepping through. A strange feeling passed through her as she crossed the threshold, like her body was being twisted inside out and then in again. But the feeling passed almost as soon as it arrived, and Tina found herself in a small hospital room. Theseus and Jacob followed her in.

She was greeted with the sight of one Newt Scamander laying on a hospital bed, covered in cuts, scrapes, dust and bandages smiling awkwardly at her. Sitting on a chair next to the bed was a young-looking woman with brown hair, also covered in various cuts and bruises, looking generally quite dishevelled.

‘Hello, my love,’ Newt said in a sweet voice.

The sight of Newt looking in an awful state with a stupid smile on his face made something in Tina crack ever so slightly. She marched up to the side of his bed, glaring at him the whole way.

‘You idiot! You look like you tried to take on Grindelwald’s entire army by yourself! You could’ve died! We have a son, Newt. What would I tell him if your – your bravado got you killed?’ Tina said.

The brown-haired girl flinched at Tina’s outburst, but Newt didn’t move a muscle. He sighed with a tone of pain and fatigue that made the anger in Tina dissipate. Newt looked up at her with soft green eyes, filled with penance, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

‘I’m sorry, Tina,’ he said.

Tina suddenly regretted her harsh words. She pulled Newt into a tight hug, tears welling in the corner of her eyes.

‘I’m sorry as well. I was just so worried about you,’ Tina said, voice breaking slightly.

Newt rubbed her back, sending comfort radiating through her body, followed by relief that despite everything, Newt was alive, and was going to be fine.

‘Hey Tina? Give the rest of us a go with the wounded soldier,’ Jacob said.

Tina reluctantly released Newt from her hug, sliding back to allow Jacob to come and give Newt a hug of his own. He whispered something in Newt’s ear that made them both laugh before parting. Theseus gave Newt a quick hug of his own and a light punch on the shoulder, scolding him for getting himself into hospital again.

The door to Newt’s room opened. Everyone in the room turned to see who it was. Tina’s eyes widened when Dumbledore himself walked through. The brown-haired girl that Tina had yet to recognise shot up out of her seat and offered a hand to Dumbledore, who shook it, looking bemused at the gesture.

‘Professor Dumbledore! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Alison McIntosh, Head Auro – I mean, Acting Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement,’ the girl (Alison, Tina noted) said.

Alison’s introduction made the room feel like the temperature had lowered by several degrees. Dumbledore was the first to say something.

‘A pleasure, Ms McIntosh, but I thought Torquil Travers was the Head of the Department?’

A grim look passed over Alison’s face, and Newt’s, Tina didn’t fail to notice. Obviously, he knew why this young lady was calling herself the Head of the Department.

‘Mr Travers was killed in the attack, Professor. As the Head Auror, I was considered the most able member of Ministry staff to take over the position, at least temporarily.’

‘So soon after he told us that information?’ Theseus asked, looking to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore waved his question and the inquisitive look on Alison’s face away.

‘We’re not here to discuss that. Newt, are you well?’

‘I’ve been better Professor, but I’m alive, thanks to Alison,’ Newt replied.

‘I cast an Exploding Charm on an acolyte that was about to kill him. Unfortunately, it also sent Newt into a wall, which wasn’t intended. I rushed him here as soon as I could,’ Alison explained, noticing the looks she was getting from every else in the room.

‘Thank you, Alison. You saved his life,’ Tina said, tears welling in her eyes. This young lady had done more for Tina in one action than many people could do for her in a lifetime. She couldn’t imagine her life without Newt, not anymore.

‘You truly are a credit to the Aurors, Ms McIntosh. Now, I’m sure you must have a lot of work to be doing, as due your new position,’ Dumbledore said.

‘Indeed, I do, Professor. Stay safe, all of you,’ Alison said before leaving the room.

‘She seemed nice,’ Jacob said, ‘I think we can trust her.’

‘I agree. I was her Professor for a year or two. She was a student of high moral character,’ Theseus said.

‘I don’t disagree, my friends. However, the Ministry as a whole remains untrustworthy,’ Dumbledore said gravely. ‘I think you all should limit the contact you have with them.’

‘Why do you say that, Professor?’ Newt asked.

‘I am worried that it was not a coincidence that the Ministry was attacked on the day you happened to be there, Newt. Someone there – in fact, I would say a good many people there – do not have our best interests in mind.’

Tina’s heart dropped. There was nothing that could dull the news that Newt was going to be completely fine after a deadly act of terrorism than learning that it could’ve happened because of him and could happen again.

‘What can we do then, to keep our family safe?’ Tina asked.

‘I would like to send you and Newt on a mission, to get you out of Grindelwald’s ever watchful gaze,’ Dumbledore said. ‘There is a man living in the Swiss Alps who has been avoiding his duty for far too long.’

‘You want to send us to the Swiss Alps on a manhunt?’ Tina said with disbelief. ‘What about Carnelian?’

‘He could stay with my parents, Tina. I think Dumbledore’s got a point. We’ve got targets on our back. A bit of time away from the limelight could turn his attention elsewhere,’ Newt said, ‘it would make it safer for Carnelian.’

Tina conceded that Newt and Dumbledore had a point. She would be lying to herself if she said she hadn’t been kept awake some nights worried about being attacked by an agent of Grindelwald. Carnelian had barely left their house because neither she nor Newt thought it safe enough for him to be anywhere other than there, Newt’s parents, or Hogwarts. She wanted to be able to show Carnelian the outside world, and perhaps taking themselves out of the centre of the resistance for a while could do that.

‘Alright, we’re in,’ Tina said.

‘If Newt and Tina are going, I’m going with them,’ Jacob said.

Tina looked at Jacob with admiration. Time and time again he proved himself one of the most loyal people she had ever known. His willingness to help her and Newt and bring himself into danger despite his lack of magical abilities was a symbol of his brave soul. He was, as Tina had learnt from Newt’s Hogwarts tales, a true Gryffindor.

‘One day your exceptional bravery will not surprise me, Jacob,’ Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling, ‘It is settled then. Once Newt is allowed to leave St Mungo’s, you three will leave to the Swiss Alps to find our missing wizard.’

With that, Dumbledore left the room, leaving Tina, Jacob, and Theseus with Newt. Tina said nothing, sitting herself in the seat that Alison had vacated, and rubbing Newt’s hands in a gesture of comfort not just for him, but for her as well, reassuring herself that he was going to fine.

Before Jacob or Theseus could start a conversation about the battle at the Ministry, or something equally masculine, Newt turned to Tina, a deeply sincere look in his eyes. She matched this look, but added a curiosity, unsure why he was suddenly looking at her in that way.

‘Can I ask you something, Tina? Life’s about to get very hectic, and I want to ask this before we go to Switzerland,’ Newt said.

In the corner of her eye, Tina could see Jacob’s face contort with excitement, and Theseus’ eyes widen with what appeared to be realisation, giving her an idea of what was about to happen. Her heart started to pound against her ribcage, and her cheeks started to get very hot. She could only imagine how red she was starting to look on the outside.

‘Porpentina Goldstein, would you do me the honour of marrying me?’ Newt asked, containing his smile about as well as Jacob.

‘Yes, of course I would,’ Tina said, matching Newt’s smile, ‘but where’s the ring?’

Newt tapped his chest in response, and a little green head popped itself up from Newt’s shirt pocket, followed swiftly by the rest of Pickett. The Bowtruckle waddled down to the side of Newt’s bed and revealed a beautiful silver ring with several small diamonds set on the top. It reminded Tina of the rings Queenie used to stop and explain whenever they passed a jewellery store in New York.

Tina took the ring from Pickett’s hands, thanking the Bowtruckle, before sliding the ring down her ring finger on her left hand. To her joy, it fit perfectly. She admired it for a moment, watching how the light of the room glinted off each diamond, creating a glittery miniature light-show.

‘Do you like it?’ Newt asked.

‘I love it,’ Tina responded.

‘Congratulations you two! Don’t worry, I’m available to be both Best Man and Maid of Honour, and I’m more than happy to organise everything!’ Jacob said excitedly.

‘It’s okay, Jacob, I think this is going to be a long engagement,’ Tina said, laughing.

‘I’m not going to offer the same services as Jacob, but congratulations. I can’t think of a finer couple,’ Theseus said, giving them a wide smile, and Tina swore she could see his eyes get watery.

Tina looked back to Newt at the same time he looked at her, their gaze meeting one another again. Feeling a swell of love for the awkward yet beautiful man she was officially going to marry, she pulled him into a kiss, her eyes closing as she let the passion take control. All the emotions she had felt in the past half an hour poured into it, the fear, the relief, the love. Newt responded similarly, and Tina could’ve sworn her heart and mind were going to explode with the love she had for Newt Scamander.

After what felt like far too short a time, the two of them broke apart, but not by much, the tips of their noses still touching. Tina held the side of Newt’s head, and once again looked into his beautiful green eyes.

‘I love you, Newton Scamander,’ she said.

‘And I love you, Porpentina Goldstein,’ Newt said.

Tina kissed Newt again before sitting back. She was quickly brought in close again by Jacob giving her and Newt a squeezing hug, offering more congratulations. Once she was able to sit down, having been released by Jacob, her newly decorated left hand met Newt’s right, and she closed her eyes, allowing herself some rest, drifting into a state of sleep to the sounds of the excited conversation between Newt, Theseus, and Jacob (especially Jacob, who had probably been waiting for this moment since the day Newt and Tina had met).

The future was uncertain, but at least she could enjoy the peaceful moments of love and friendship that greeted her in the present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry this took so long!  
> No promises, but I am hoping the next one will not take as long.  
> Our favourite couple is engaged! How fun!  
> Now they're on a mission to find a missing wizard...  
> Next chapter is our first Queenie POV of Part 2!
> 
> Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated.  
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Lone Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Credence runs from Nurmengard, Queenie tries to find him.

Queenie

Queenie slowly lifted and twisted her wand in the air, directing threads into the black fabric of the dress she was making. Each thread weaved its way through the two edges of fabric, pulling them together to create the shoulders of the dress. With a final twist of her wand, each of the threads in each shoulder finished their path, completing the shoulder section. Another flick of the wand sent the dress floating from her work stand and draping over one of her display stands. It wasn’t a finished article, but she tired of the work for the moment.

Life in Nurmengard had become overwhelmingly tedious for her. All she had left to do anymore was make dresses and occasionally talk to Tobias when he wasn’t on a mission. The issue was that Credence’s mood had changed over the past few years. An anger with his inability to cast any magic combined with what Queenie had sensed was a growing indecision about whether he really wanted to side with Grindelwald had led to him becoming volatile. She had been the only one he would let into his room anymore, until about two months ago, when he had lost his temper and attacked her in Obscurus form. Despite her protestations, Grindelwald had banned her from seeing Credence again until they could be sure he wouldn’t hurt her.

What made the ban from seeing Credence worse was that Grindelwald wouldn’t give her anything else to do while she waited. He had done the same for the several years she had been a part of his cause, but previously she had considered looking after Credence her contribution. With that now gone, Queenie had noticed just how little she really did for Grindelwald. All she really had left to do was make dresses, which was getting progressively less interesting with each dress.

A light rumble reached Queenie’s ears, followed by a gnawing, empty feeling in her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, which had been several hours ago. Apparently dress-making was still interesting enough to make her forget to eat. She stood up from her seat and left her room.

The dining area of Nurmengard was near empty, which would’ve surprised Queenie a few years ago, but not anymore. Grindelwald’s cause was stronger than ever before, but all that meant was there were more people available to complete missions and tasks for Grindelwald, which was all the more galling for Queenie.

Nurmengard wasn’t the only base for Grindelwald and his acolytes anymore. The cause was so large, with so many moving parts, that bases were sprouting up all over Europe for those who were on lengthy assignments. The only reason anyone came to Nurmengard anymore was to see Grindelwald or another member of his inner circle, as they were essentially the only high-profile members of the cause who stayed in the castle.

Queenie felt a pang of anger at the thought of the inner circle. They were group of people who she was meant to be part of, but since Credence had pushed everyone away, she had stopped being invited to meetings. Officially this was because there were none being held, but Queenie had seen the looks on Tobias’ face. They were still happening, just without her.

It was a betrayal to Queenie. Grindelwald had told her that she was playing an important role for him, but the words rang false to her, now that her main contribution had been taken away. Did Grindelwald not trust her to complete tasks he regularly assigned to regular acolytes? The idea that he thought her lower on the competency ladder than a new recruit had burnt its way into her mind over the past two months. Whenever she wasn’t distracting herself, it flared to the forefront of her mind, often making her reconsider her place within Grindelwald’s cause.

She still had her regular, almost daily thoughts about whether leaving her family and the love of her life for the idealists of Grindelwald’s cause was the right decision, and she generally came down on the side that her decision was painful yet the correct one. But recently her common doubts had been joined by new ones, with her questioning whether she was valued in Grindelwald’s cause, or if she was only meant as a caretaker for Credence, and that she was being phased out now that Grindelwald saw no value in that task. It was making the decision to get up and keep her place amongst the acolytes of Grindelwald harder each day.

Queenie sat down at one of the long tables with her food, making sure to sit far enough away from the other acolytes that she wouldn’t get dragged into a conversation. As lonely as she had been recently, she didn’t consider many of the acolytes in Nurmengard the type of people to pull off the heavy blanket of loneliness from her shoulders.

She ate alone, ignoring the occasional murmurs of thoughts from the acolytes in the hall. She was pulled out of this lonesome routine when two people sat beside her, one on each side. She glanced up, ready to tell the newcomers to go away when she recognised the bleach-white hair of Gellert Grindelwald and the scruffy look of Tobias Yatherly.

‘Grindelwald, sir! Is something wrong?’ Queenie asked.

‘Something is very wrong,’ Grindelwald said in a low voice. ‘Come with me and Mr Yatherly to somewhere more private.’

Queenie followed Grindelwald as he led her and Tobias away from the dining hall. She looked at Tobias, who wasn’t looking at her. However, she could see that he was very grave, the sort of expression she would expect to see at a funeral. A sense of worry started to build its way up inside her. Something bad had almost certainly happened. She only hoped it didn’t involve Credence.

The three of them stopped in a small hallway a small way away from the dining hall. Queenie looked between the two men, but neither of them were making eye contact with her, both instead directing their gaze at the walls and ceiling, grave looks on their faces. Finally, Grindelwald looked down at Queenie and spoke up.

‘Aurelius has run away from Nurmengard, my dear,’ he said sadly.

‘What?’ Queenie exclaimed, ‘When?’

‘About three hours ago,’ Grindelwald said.

A surge of fury rose up in Queenie’s chest. Credence had been missing for hours, and they were only now coming to her? She was the person who knew Credence the best, and the one Credence trusted the most. If Credence needed to be found, she knew that she was by far the best person for the job.

‘How could you not tell me immediately?’ Queenie asked, anger slipping into the undercurrent of her voice.

‘That was a grievous oversight, I know,’ Grindelwald said, ‘but now we are coming to you because you are the one who knows Aurelius best.’

‘You have to find him,’ Tobias said, ‘otherwise he will be found by Aurors.’

The rage in Queenie’s chest cooled off and became cold, hard fear. It was common knowledge to those within Nurmengard that there were squads of Aurors stationed all over the mountain range, knowing that Grindelwald’s base was somewhere in the area. If Credence ran into any of them, they would kill him before he could say the word surrender.

‘Do you know which direction he went in? I have to find him,’ Queenie said.

‘He went eastwards, from what I can gather about his escape,’ Grindelwald said. ‘I will send for a squad to assist you.’

‘There’s no time!’ Queenie shouted. ‘I have to go now!’

Ignoring the protestations of Grindelwald and Tobias, Queenie ran down the hallway, taking a right turn to head for the eastern gate of Nurmengard castle. She couldn’t bear to wait for a squad to help her, not when Credence was in direct danger from people who wanted him dead.

As she ran, she flicked her wand and summoned a thick coat from one of the rooms in the eastern side of the castle. They were used for warmth for acolytes who were leaving Nurmengard castle into the cold of the mountain. She wrapped it tight around her body, feeling the warmth immediately flood into her bones.

It didn’t take much longer to reach the eastern gate. Two acolytes guarded the door to the outside world. Queenie heard their thoughts of stopping her before they made a move, blasting the two of them with a Stunning Spell without slowing down. She hauled the door open and stepped out of Nurmengard castle into the Austrian Mountains.

After only a few steps out into the frozen tundra, Queenie felt the freezing snow and wind start to bite at her body as the vicious winter climate made itself known. Her legs were covered with the standard issue trousers given to each acolyte, but the woollen material with which they were made were starting to get wet with frigid water from the deep snow that surrounded Nurmengard. Queenie cast a minor Warming Charm to stop her legs from freezing, before pressing forward to try and find Credence.

Any signs of Credence’s escape had long since been covered by the heavy snowfall. There could be no use of any tracking spells. Queenie decided to continue forward in the eastern direction from the castle she was already taking. She had a feeling that Credence would have taken a similar path.

It could have only been five minutes of travel before Queenie was completely lost. The wind had become ferocious, whipping up the snow into a blinding storm. Any possible signs of life were completely covered up by the snow as soon as they were made. Queenie couldn’t tell where she had come from or where she should be going.

To make things worse, the Warming Charm she had placed on her clothes was melting the snow that landed on her cloak, soaking her in freezing water. It was so cold that the Warming Charm wasn’t working, instead she was chilling right to her bones. It was clear to her that she needed to find shelter, fast, because it was getting cold to the point that her life was surely in danger.

 A cragged rock face came into Queenie’s limited field of view. She hauled her feet out of the deep snow and started to move towards it, hoping that it would have a cave that she could shelter in. By pure miracle, there was a cave, that looked to go deep into the rock face. Queenie breathed a sigh of relief, her breath almost freezing in the air in front of her. She entered the cave, casting Lumos to light her way.

The light from the tip of her wand didn’t illuminate that far into the cave. It was better visibility than the storm, due to the lack of falling snow, but she still found herself feeling along the side of the cave wall to walk further in.

She noticed that where outside and around the entrance it had been freezing with the wind and snow of the storm, it was now getting warmer and warmer. It didn’t make much sense to her, as it wasn’t just warmth from being out of the storm, it was a heat she associated with being near a fire.

Suddenly hoping that Credence had found his way into the cave and created a fire to keep himself warm, Queenie started to move faster into the depths of the cave. The white light from the tip of her wand started to meet a faint orange glow from the end of the cave. Seeing this, she increased her pace further, her eyes adjusting to the new light of the fire and her wand.

The orange glow was emanating from around a corner deep into the cave. Queenie was about to rush around the corner, ready to see Credence and bring him back home, when the chatter of thoughts entered her mind.

_‘What a waste of time this assignment is.’_

_‘How does the taskforce expect us to find a castle in this damned weather?’_

Queenie froze in place. The thoughts she was hearing were nothing like what she had come to know from Credence. She edged slightly closer to the corner and stood with her back to the wall, stretching to listen for any voices.

‘How much longer are we going to be stuck in these bloody mountains, Archer?’ a gruff male voice asked.

‘Until we can find something worth bringing back to the taskforce. We need a win, Grindelwald’s got our whole operation on the ropes,’ replied a softer male voice, who Queenie assumed was Archer.

_‘Just because we need a win doesn’t mean we need to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, where the weather is constantly shit.’_

Just from his thoughts, Queenie could tell that the man with the gruff voice had some serious misgivings about whatever mission he was on. However, that was the least of her worries. The taskforce was the name of an international coalition of Aurors dedicated to finding and defeating Grindelwald and his followers. They were known amongst those at Nurmengard as being violent, cold-hearted killers. Very few acolytes who faced them were left without injury. Early in the taskforce’s existence, they had taken prisoners, but word around Nurmengard was that they had now singled out a few high-profile targets for capture and were killing any acolytes not on that list. Queenie had just walked into a nest of them.

She flicked her wand, silently casting a Human-Detection Spell, revealing five Aurors around the corner. The odds were not in her favour, despite her personal duelling skill. She was good, but she wasn’t good enough to take down five Aurors. She started to shuffle away, trying to be as quiet as possible, when a female voice spoke out from around the corner.

‘Something’s triggered the Magical-Detection Ward we put down!’

Throwing caution to the wind, Queenie broke into a run. She had to get out of the cave and back into the snowstorm as soon as possible. Once she was back within the storm’s grasp, it would be impossible to track her.

Her footsteps echoed loudly around her, soon joined by a chorus of boots thumping on stone behind her. She could hear the Aurors shouting, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She wasn’t about to slow down to find out.

As she ran back the way she came, it started to become harder and harder to see. In her rush, she had forgotten to light her wand again, and now the fear had her in such a rush she couldn’t concentrate enough to cast the spell. All she could do was trust she was running down the right path to the entrance and hope that the Aurors would lose her in the darkness.

An explosive burst of red light just over her shoulder told her the Aurors were still hot on her tail. She didn’t slow down to look back, desperately trying to run faster to avoid being hit by any sort of spell. There was another explosion over her head, making her ears ring loudly and pelting her with a shower of rocks. She held her arms over her head, shielding her head from being struck. The sting from the rocks simply hitting her arms was still painful, and she stumbled slightly. In the brief moment of slowing down, the footfalls of the Aurors got louder and closer. Queenie fired an explosive spell of her own in their direction, giving her time to escape.

Light pouring in from the entrance of the cave became visible to Queenie. Somehow, she pushed herself to run faster, the desperation of trying to escape from the Aurors powering her forwards. This gave her the boost she needed. She finally ran out of the cave and into the thick snow of the mountainside.

Queenie stopped in her tracks as soon as she was out of the cave. It wasn’t snowing anymore. The storm had stopped. There was no way she could get away from the Aurors now; the snow was too thick for quick movement and she would leave clear tracks as she went. Resigned to the fact they were going to catch up with her, Queenie twirled her wand in figure-eight, causing snow to rise in a protective formation around her, freezing into solid ice, leaving only a space in front of her open.

It didn’t take much longer for the Aurors to arrive from within the cave. Queenie raised her wand in the most aggressive duelling stance, daring them to make a move. A man with grizzled black hair made some hand movements at the other Aurors, and they started to move around Queenie’s defensive ice formation. It was clear that this man was Archer.

‘Surrender and we’ll make this – wait, you’re Queenie Goldstein,’ Archer said.

‘What’s it to you?’ Queenie snapped, holding her duelling stance.

‘It doesn’t have to be a fight. You’re wanted alive. Just surrender and make this easier on all of us,’ Archer said.

‘So that I can be tortured for information? I don’t think so, Auror.’

‘Forget it. Aurors, contain and subdue!’

Several spell blasts hit the sides of Queenie’s ice structure, sending booming sounds of cracking echoing through the small space. Queenie glanced around for structural damage, but everything was still intact. She responded by slicing her wand up through the air, firing off three Stunning Spells in Archer’s direction. He smartly deflected them away with a wave of his own wand.

Another round of offensive spells hit Queenie’s cover. This time she felt chips of ice hit her face, along with the appearance of cracks in the walls. She disapparated out of the structure as another round of spells hit it, apparating several metres away as the ice structure exploded in shards.

Archer had followed her apparation, casting an area wide Anti-Apparation Jinx. The other four Aurors turned towards her, ready to fight. The female Auror who had detected her earlier sent a ring of fire to surround Queenie, trapping her in place. Directly afterwards, the other Aurors fired off Stunning Spells in quick succession. Queenie moved her wand swiftly around her, deflecting the spells away. The Aurors sent another round of spells at her, so she twisted and flicked her wand, causing the fire around her to rise in a protective wall, absorbing the spells.

Despite her defensive success, Queenie knew that she couldn’t defend against five Aurors for much longer. She may be a skilled dueller, but the odds were not in her favour. With Credence still out on the mountainside, she was not going to give up.

Suddenly, the sky began to darken. The fight stopped as everyone looked up to see a black cloud spreading out in the sky above the battlefield. The Aurors looked around at each other, clearly confused as to what it was. Queenie knew immediately. Credence had found her first.

‘It’s the Obscurus!’ Archer yelled.

Before any of the Aurors could react to this information, the black cloud of the Obscurus shot down from the sky with lightning speed. A few Aurors managed to get a shield charm up, but two of them were pushed into the ground. The Obscurus rose up again, gathering together for another attack. Queenie knew the damage it could cause, so she disabled the ring of fire with a flick of her wand and ran to where the Aurors were. She didn’t want them to die.

‘Credence! It’s me, Queenie! You don’t have to do this!’ she yelled, trying to atttact the attention of the Obscurus.

The Obscurus seemed to have heard her, pausing in the air instead of coming down for another attack.

‘It’s okay, sweetie. I’m here for you,’ Queenie said, ‘I know you can control this power, I believe in you.’

The Obscurus started to shift and twist in the air, becoming smaller and smaller. Credence was listening to her. He was reforming into his human form.

‘While it’s weak! Kill it!’ Archer suddenly ordered.

‘No!’ Queenie shouted.

It was too late. Explosive spells began to fire into the small Obscurus cloud. It screeched with deafening volume and burst into massive size again, filling the air around them with shadowy energy. The Aurors stopped for a moment, obviously confused as to whether they had killed it or not. Their confusion was soon answered when the Obscurus gave a roar that echoed all the way down the mountain, then attacked.

The shadowy energy formed into solid pillars of dark magic, smashing into each Auror, launching them backwards into the snow. The Aurors quickly got back on their feet, raising their wands and attacking the Obscurus. As curses and jinxes hit him, the Obscurus screeched in pain again, Credence’s face becoming visible in the dark cloud.

Seeing this, something in Queenie snapped. She hadn’t wanted to hurt the Aurors more than stunning them but seeing that they were more than willing to harm Credence made her furious. It was no matter that she was having growing doubts about Grindelwald’s movement, she would always protect Credence. She raised her wand to fight by Credence’s side.

‘ _Confractus_!’ she yelled, pointing her wand at the female Auror.

A bright yellow light fired out from the tip of Queenie’s wand and flew at its target. The Auror was distracted by a sudden attack from the Obscurus, therefore missing the fact a spell was flying at her. The yellow light hit her, followed by the sickening sound of cracking bone. The Auror fell to the ground, her left arm twisted at an unnatural angle.

Archer noticed this and ordered two of the remaining Aurors to take Queenie on. He and the Auror who had been complaining continued to focus on the Obscurus, who was now wildly destroying the cave entrance and throwing rocks at them.

Queenie took a deep breath and focused in on the Aurors’ thoughts. Both seemed to have basic Occlumency training, but the panic and danger of the battle was leaving holes in their mental defences. Queenie heard the exact spells they were going to use before they could cast them and responded by firing a Confundus Charm at one of them, and summoning ropes to tie the other one up. Both Aurors collapsed, defeated.

The battle was not going as well for Credence. Archer and the other Auror were clearly the two most skilled Aurors in the group. They were using advanced containment magic to limit the offensive range of the Obscurus, while using violent curses to poke holes in its defences.

Queenie ran over towards Archer, hoping to help Credence escape, but the other Auror noticed her before she could get close. He pointed his wand at the ground in front of her, which exploded with an eruption of snow, sending Queenie flying backwards, disorientating her.

The world had gone blurry. Queenie’s ears were ringing. She tried pushing herself up, but her arms were like jelly. She flopped back down into the snow, looking up into a sky filled with sparks of magic and the smoke of fire. But something wasn’t right. The clouds of dark magic were gone. A new surge of strength shot through Queenie’s body and she sat up to see Credence, back in human form, cowering in front of Archer, whose wand was pointed at him.

‘Don’t do it!’ Queenie shouted.

Archer looked at Queenie, his wand not moving from Credence.

‘He’s a monster and a weapon! He needs to be put down!’

‘No, he’s an innocent!’

Archer ignored her and raised his wand. Time seemed to slow for Queenie as Archer started to bring his wand down. Fear and anger surged through her. She had to stop him; she had to save Credence. She raised her wand, but her mind was still confused from the explosion. She couldn’t think straight. Only one spell that could stop Archer was on her mind.

‘Avada Kedavra!’ Queenie shouted, her wand moving in a lightning bolt formation.

Green energy burst forth from Queenie’s wand, swiftly flying into Archer’s body before he could cast his spell. His eyes widened before his body crumpled and collapsed to the ground. Everyone froze. The other Aurors who were starting to get up looked shocked. Credence was staring at the dead body in front of him. Queenie was numb, unbelieving of what she had done.

Her brain began to click back into gear as Queenie realised that Archer’s Anti-Apparation Jinx was gone with his life. She rushed forward, grabbing Credence’s shoulder, and disapparated.

She and Credence apparated in a different cave. She glanced around to assure herself that they hadn’t been followed. Once she was confident that she and Credence were alone, she sat down. She looked at the wand in her hand and felt a wave of nausea at the reminder of what it had done. She threw the wand away from her, unwilling to even touch it.

A hand on her shoulder made her look up. Credence was looking back at her with wide, scared eyes.

‘Thank you,’ Credence said.

‘A-anything to protect you, sweetie,’ Queenie said, struggling to get the words out.

She rubbed Credence’s hand in what she hoped was a comforting gesture, though her shaking wasn’t helping.

‘I’m sorry I ran away,’ Credence said.

‘It’s okay. I haven’t exactly been enamoured with Grindelwald lately either.’

‘I was just so scared, and I had no one to talk to about it.’

‘Being scared is understandable, sweetie.’

‘I attacked you! I’m an adult, I should be able to control myself!’

‘It’s okay, Credence. It’s okay. You saved me from the Aurors as well,’ Queenie said, giving him a hug. He relaxed, hugging her back.

A sound from somewhere in the cave put Queenie on alert again. She let go of Credence and forced herself to pick up her wand. It didn’t feel like the same comforting presence it had been for most of her life. Now it felt cold and lifeless, as if it was a different wand altogether.

Still, someone was coming, so she raised the wand in preparation for attack. The sound of footsteps came into earshot and started coming closer. Queenie put a protective arm in front of Credence, who had stepped back behind her.

Two figures stepped into the space. Queenie raised her wand to attack when she saw the bleach-white hair.

‘Queenie, Credence, thank the lord we found you,’ Grindelwald said, Tobias stepping in behind him.

Queenie didn’t reply, instead responding by slowly lowering her wand to her side. Grindelwald seemed to gather that something was wrong with the two of them.

‘What’s wrong? What happened?’

‘We were… attacked by Aurors,’ Queenie said, ‘and I had to kill one of them to save Credence.’

Grindelwald looked over her with sympathetic eyes.

‘You feel guilty about that, my dear?’

‘It’s hard not to. I took his life!’

‘Yet you did it to protect Aurelius. They would’ve killed him.’

‘Does that mean they deserve to die?’ Queenie asked. She was still surrounded by so much uncertainty about what had happened. It still made her feel sick.

Grindelwald placed his hands on her shoulders, a gesture that always made Queenie feel reassured.

‘You made a split-second decision to save a life, my dear. The Aurors put you in that position,’ Grindelwald said. ‘Do you want to know why I kept you away from the missions and meetings?’

Queenie shook her head. She had certainly wondered as to why, but she had drawn no conclusions.

‘I wanted to protect you from seeing the violence and thuggery the Aurors have reduced themselves to. I wanted you to feel safe, not persecuted by murderers.

‘But now you have seen first-hand what they are capable of. You have seen first-hand what they will do without hesitation. The death of anyone is undesirable, but you were given no choice. Feel grief that a person forced you to make that choice but feel no remorse over the decision you made.’

Something in Grindelwald’s words made Queenie less nauseous about the whole ordeal. He had a point; Archer had forced her to take decisive action. He had ignored her pleas and had been going to kill Credence in cold blood. Still, she couldn’t believe that his death was justified.

‘I made a grave error of judgement trying to protect you in that way, Queenie. You are as strong as the best of us. I assure you, you will have an important role from now on,’ Grindelwald said. ‘Now, let us return to the safety of Nurmengard.’

Grindelwald took Credence’s hand, who looked apprehensive at the prospect. Queenie gave him a shaky smile and nodded. This seemed to reassure Credence, who relaxed. Grindelwald gave Queenie a reassuring smile of his one, before disapparating with Credence.

Queenie turned to Tobias, waiting for him to take her hand and disapparate. Instead of doing so, he gave her a concerned look.

‘You killed someone? Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘No. But I think Grindelwald’s right, I wasn’t given much of a choice. I still wish I had thought of another spell,’ she replied.

Tobias gave a grimace.

‘I wouldn’t trust everything Grindelwald says. Be careful of what he asks of you.’

Before Queenie could ask what he was saying, Tobias grabbed her hand and she felt the familiar pull and twist of disapparation. They apparated into the stone corridors of Nurmengard. She was back in Nurmengard, safe after her risky trip in the mountain.

Her life had changed now. She had killed an Auror. Could she ever go back to Jacob, now that she had killed someone? Would she even want to? Tina and Newt were deeply involved with Dumbledore and the taskforce. Were they now working towards killing Credence? And even if they weren’t, they were still supporting a cause that wanted to kill him, and many others she had come to know in Nurmengard. She couldn’t even be sure that Jacob was still the same. The policy of segregation between wizards and no-majs was still active. It was entirely possible that Jacob had been Obliviated and returned to his old life.

Her eyes started to tear up. She leant back against a wall and let herself cry. How had her life come to this? She was a killer and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She missed Jacob; she missed her sister. But it was getting to the point where she couldn’t leave Grindelwald’s movement anymore, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

It was clear to her that she was still conflicted, but she felt her trust in Grindelwald had been restored after he revealed his reasons for keeping her on the outside, despite Tobias’ strange warning. And Credence had returned, and she cared for him deeply. Her feelings were uncertain, but she would stay in Nurmengard for a while longer.

The conflict in her mind meant she only barely registered the fact that her wand felt comforting and warm in her hand again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The first Queenie chapter. I hope you all like it!  
> I'm going to stop making promises about time of delivery for each chapter, because my motivation is all over the place.  
> Next chapter is back with Newt, Tina and Jacob as they try and find the mysterious wizard in the Swiss Alps.
> 
> Comments and criticism are welcome and appreciated.  
> Thanks for reading!


	5. The Swiss Alps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina, Newt, and Jacob travel into the Swiss Alps to find Dumbledore's lost wizard.

Tina

The effects of the Great Depression were devastating in England, but nothing Tina had seen in her adopted home could have prepared her for what she was greeted with in Switzerland. They were staying in the alpine wizarding village of Heiligtum, preparing for their journey into the Swiss Alps to find the mysterious wizard Dumbledore had told them to find. The people in the village were miserable. Over half of the Swiss Wizarding banks had collapsed; thousands of Swiss wizards and witches had lost their savings, leaving them without even a coin to their name. Many were living on the streets, unable to afford living in their homes any longer, forced to brave the alpine cold every night.

Tina, along with Newt and Jacob, very rarely left the inn they were staying in. The guilt they felt whenever they openly walked in the streets of Heiligtum was heart-wrenching. Newt’s book had kept a stable income for him and Tina, while Jacob was living at Hogwarts, and therefore didn’t need to worry about money at all. Whenever they left the inn, it was like the suffering people of Heiligtum could tell; the anger and sorrow in their eyes was enough to make even Tina flinch, and she had dealt with many an evil criminal in her Auror years.

What compounded the terrible feeling of the trip was that they had no idea where to start looking for Dumbledore’s wizard. The Swiss Alps were vast, and he could be anywhere within them. The only reason they were staying in Heiligtum at all was because they were hoping that the wizard may show himself in one of the few magical areas in the Alps. This hadn’t happened, as was their luck. 

Their consensus was that the wizard was unlikely to show himself in town, so Newt had suggested they may have to search in and around the mountains themselves. Tina had agreed, leading to Jacob also reluctantly agreeing. Tina couldn’t fault his hesitance; it was coming up to the winter period, and even in the protected town Tina found herself chilled to the bone. 

Their planned journey into the Alps was why Tina was alone in their inn room. Newt and Jacob were out shopping for supplies. Tina had made sure to drill into them to buy triple the amount they thought they would need. The Alps were unforgiving and they had no idea where to start looking. 

Finding herself bored of waiting for Newt and Jacob to return, Tina eyed Newt’s case on the inn room floor. It was going to be their home while travelling in the Alps; the tent that they had brought was shelter for the suitcase, not them. Tina had been slightly apprehensive at the idea of sharing a home with the few beasts Newt had brought to Switzerland with them, but she had warmed to it after spending some time with the beasts.

Tina walked over to the case. She bent down and unclipped the latches, opening the case. She stepped into the open case, her foot finding the ladder step on the inside. She clambered down the ladder, the lining of the suitcase slowly changing into the wood of a small cabin as she descended.

The interior design of Newt’s case hadn’t changed much since she had first stepped into it all those years ago. However, there had been a few additions, as Newt had picked up some more permanent residents.

Some of those permanent residents came to greet Tina as she stepped out of the cabin into the wider case. Mildred, who had become the family Wampus Cat, padded over, purring as she rubbed her head on Tina’s legs. Tina obliged the cat by scratching behind her ears.

A weight pulled on Tina’s shoulder. She turned her head to see Dougal the Demiguise clambering up her back. The Demiguise gave a small hoot of greeting, so Tina returned a smile. 

Most of the other beasts Newt had brought did not come to greet her. Dougal and Mildred spent a lot of time around their family, but the other beasts were generally confined to Newt’s expansive basement. 

A knock came echoing from the cabin. Newt and Jacob must have returned from their shopping trip.

‘I’m down here!’ Tina called. 

The telltale sounds of someone entering the case drifted into Tina’s ear. A few moments later, the perpetually scruffy Newt Scamander came bundling out of the cabin door, followed by a hasselled-looking Jacob. 

‘You’re shopping with him next time, Tina,’ Jacob said huffily.

Tina looked between the two with confused amusement. They were the closest of friends, but they could get in the most absurd arguments with each other.

‘What happened?’ Tina asked.

‘Oh, we took a detour for over an hour trying to help a lost beast who turned out to be a person with a thick black cloak.’

‘They looked like a Western European Banoof,’ Newt said sheepishly.

Tina laughed. It was just like Newt to mistake a person for a Banoof. She suspected that the person had been in for a surprise when Newt caught up with them as well.

Mildred finally noticed the new arrivals, having been focused on Tina’s ear scratches.Tina laughed. It was just like Newt to always be on the lookout for a lost or hurt beast. It was also just like Newt to assume that something was a beast in trouble instead of taking a moment to examine the context of the situation. Jacob knew this as well, and clearly wasn’t mad, just a little hasselled.

‘Did you get everything we needed, despite the unexpected detour?’ Tina asked, still smiling.

‘Yeah, almost every store had heaps of stock. No one around here has the money to buy anything more than the essentials,’ Jacob said.

Jacob’s words chilled the mood. It was hard to escape the pervasive impact of the Great Depression, even hidden away in the other world that was Newt’s case. However, it was no time to focus on the bad in the world. With the purchase of the supplies, they were ready to explore the Swiss Alps. 

‘That’s everything we need,’ Tina said. ‘I say we aim to be out of this town by the end of the week.’

Newt and Jacob gave their approval to Tina’s plan, so Jacob and Newt clambered back out of the case to begin passing supplies down to Tina, so she could store them in a supply shed Newt had conjured next to the cabin. 

***

They had been travelling through the Alps for a week when the first storm hit. Violent winds whipped at any bare skin, with snow lashing around them, burying their legs and reducing their vision to only the two feet in front of them. 

They had earlier tied a rope around their waists, to ensure that no one would be separated and lost in the snowy wilderness, but the storm had frozen the rope almost solid, making it hard to move about without getting jabbed in the side by the rope.

It was clear to Tina that they couldn’t move any further forward in this weather. They had to make camp for the night. She stopped moving forward. As the lead in the group, Jacob and Newt were forced to stop as well.

‘There’s no way we can continue in this weather,’ Tina shouted over the storm, ‘we need to set up camp!’

‘I’ve got the tent here!’ Jacob shouted back, pulling a covered cylinder from the top of his pack.

Tina and Newt pulled their wands out from deep within their coats, shaking layers of settled snow off from the fabric. Jacob was awkwardly trying to pull the tent out from its cover, struggling to compete with the wind and snow.

Tina flicked her wand the best she could with her numb hands. She hadn’t realised just how badly the cold was restricting her movement until her wand movement had nowhere near the strength required to cast the spell required, instead firing a weak stunning spell into the storm.

‘Careful with the spells, dear!’ Newt yelled over the storm, with a grin that Tina could somehow hear in his comment. 

‘Oh, shut it,’ Tina said, finally waving her wand the correct way.

The tent slid out of its cover and unfurled itself onto the snow. Newt was the one to deftly flick his wand, raising the tent with its poles in place. Jacob then pulled the smaller bag of tent pegs out of his pack. Newt twirled his wand, causing the pegs to fly out of the bag and bury themselves into the ground, holding the tent in place.

‘Let us hope that magically placed pegs are enough to weather the storm,’ Newt said, looking at the tent with uncertainty.

‘You can worry about it all you like when we’re inside the tent,’ Jacob said grumpily, ‘it’s freezing out here.’

Tina quickly directed Newt into the tent, followed by Jacob. As soon as she took a step inside, she felt a feeling of warmth wash over her. Looking around, the tent had the furnishings of a small cabin. It was split into two sections. In the back section there was a small kitchen area, with a small cooking area furnished with a silver stovetop, blackened with use. In the front section, Tina saw two bunk beds against each wall of the tent, each made with red velvet sheets. Despite the relatively small size of the tent, it was more than enough to keep them some degree of comfort.

Newt placed his suitcase in the middle of the tent, popping the lid open in one swift movement. He gave a small smile to Tina and climbed down into it.

Tina looked at Jacob, a smile of her own tugging at her lips. Jacob briefly attempted to look serious before breaking out into a smile of his own.

‘He is incorrigible!’ Tina said with amusement.

‘Tell me about it,’ Jacob replied. ‘You can go down with him, if you want. I’ll get started with some food.’

‘Are you sure?’ Tina asked.

‘Go, go. I’ll be fine,’ Jacob insisted.

Tina stopped any further thought of protest before she could say it out loud and stepped into the open suitcase.

She slowly climbed down the ladder into the world of Newt’s case. As she stepped into the cabin, she could hear Newt talking to some of the beasts. She smiled to herself. She loved the way Newt was around the creatures he cared for.

She stepped out of the cabin door and was greeted with the sight of Newt laughing on the ground while Mildred and a Hippogriff playfully tussled with him. It took Newt a second to register that Tina was in the case, but he got up quickly when he did.

‘Everything seems to be unaffected by the storm, just as I said it would,’ Newt said excitedly.

‘Glad we could have some positive news in this awful weather,’ Tina said, giving Newt a warm smile. 

Newt smiled back, before turning back to the Hippogriff, slowly petting its feathery neck. It gave a purring chirp, rubbing its head against Newt’s cheek with great affection.

‘He’s doing a lot better,’ Newt said, ‘I was worried that I may have made a mistake bringing him along, but he’s adjusted well to his new living quarters.’

‘I hope that Jacob and I can adjust to the change as well as he has then,’ Tina said.

Newt laughed at her joke as he stepped away from the Hippogriff towards the entrance cabin. Tina watched as he disappeared into the small building for several minutes, before coming out again, lugging a metal bucket. Tina immediately recognised it as the feeding bucket.

‘Would you like to join me on the feeding rounds?’ Newt asked, slightly awkwardly.

‘I can think of nothing better than spending time with you,’ Tina replied.

Newt’s face went slightly red with a blush, which it often did whenever Tina gave him any sort of compliment, despite the fact they had been together for several years at this point. He sheepishly beckoned for Tina to follow, which she happily obliged, giving her suggestions on who to feed first.

*******

They had been travelling in the Alps for well over three weeks, with still no sign of any wizard hideouts. Even Newt, usually the most high-spirited of the trio, was starting to grumble with Jacob about how ridiculous the mission was. Tina was becoming equally annoyed, but she kept her words to herself. She couldn’t imagine that Dumbledore had been wrong about this mission, and she suspected the other two couldn’t either, which is why they all persisted forward despite their growing reservations.

It was on the last day of the third week of travelling in the Alps that they finally made a breakthrough. Jacob had been clearing some snow around their tent while the weather was still calm when he noticed a strange metal object half buried. He had, with no shortage of excitement, brought it to show Tina and Newt. 

Tina had immediately recognised it as the MACUSA seal, usually placed on top of survival kits issued to aurors. After conferring with each other about whether this was a trinket of the wizard they were looking for, or an auror also wandering the Alps, Jacob had made the case that either way, it would likely only be beneficial to try and locate who it belonged to. Using several advanced tracking spells, they followed a trail left by whoever the seal belonged to, leading them to a cave on the side of a cliff face.

This was where Tina now found herself, standing in the mouth of the cave, flanked by Newt and Jacob. She turned around to face them.

‘Are we ready to go in? No one has any objections or concerns?’ Tina asked.

‘This is the best lead we got,’ Jacob said. ‘I think it’s best if we commit to following it.’

Newt nodded in agreement, so Tina turned back around and took the first step into the cave. On the step, Tina felt the shiver of magic. She glanced at Newt, who gave a slight nod in return. They both slid their wands out of their coats and raised their wands in a defensive position in front of them. 

‘Should I be worried?’ Jacob whispered.

‘Not yet,’ Tina whispered in return.

The cave entrance started to narrow itself into a tight corridor, at the end of which was only darkness. Tina deftly flicked her wand, sending a large ball of glowing white light to the corridor’s end.

Jacob gave a sharp intake of breath at what the light revealed. Lining the walls were hundreds, if not thousands, of cuts into the stone, all as tally marks. Tina stepped into the corridor, a feeling of horror growing in her chest as the tally marks filled the walls. From behind her, she heard the clicks of Newt unlocking his case. She turned to see him pulling the Niffler out in his hands.

‘What are you doing?’ Tina hissed under her breath.

‘The Niffler has a great sense of smell and I am worried about traps,’ Newt hissed back. 

‘You’re right to be worried,’ said a deep, booming voice.

Tina’s eyes shot up to see a man standing at the end of the corridor. She and Newt leapt to their feet, wands aggressively aimed at the man. He simply laughed, waving his hand in a slow movement. A huge cloud of smoke filled the corridor, blinding Tina to her surroundings. Before she could cast a clearing spell, she felt the ground below her split in half. She tried to grab onto something, but all that was left was empty air. She could feel herself falling, by herself, unable to see where Newt or Jacob had gone. She was in complete darkness. Any idea of where the ground was or how long she had been falling was entirely lost to her. 

A sudden impact with solid ground informed Tina that she had finally stopped falling. Still in darkness, Tina realised with a stab of terror in her heart that her wand had disappeared from her hand. Her hands flew out, almost without her thinking, desperately grasping the ground, trying to find it. 

Darkness seemed to close in around her, somehow limiting her sight even further. She felt a growing panic at her situation. She began calling out for Newt or Jacob, desperately hoping one of them could hear her. When there was no reply, the growing panic in her chest seemed to grow further. She froze, half lying on the ground, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. 

The sound of nearby sniffling broke her out of her panic. She could recognise that sound anywhere. She squashed the panic back down and softly called out into the darkness.

‘Hey, come here Niffler, come on,’ Tina said.

The sniffling sounds came closer. Tina held her hand out and was greeted with a warm, wet nose at her fingertips.

‘Mercy Lewis, am I glad to see you, my little sniffling friend. Any chance you could find my wand?’ Tina asked.

Tina was given what she hoped was an understanding sniffle as the wet nose left the tip of her fingers. She started to feel the darkness close in again, but the faint sound of the Niffler kept the oppressive darkness from getting too close to her.

After a small wait, the Niffler came sniffling back at her hands. She held her hand out again, and the Niffler dropped a long wooden stick into her hand. As soon as she grasped it, a warmth shot up through her arm into her chest. It was her wand. She smiled to herself, waving her wand in a wide movement, firing various balls of light around the room, lighting it up. With her sight restored, she could see that she was in a small room. The cragged edges of the room made it clear to Tina that it was carved with magic, not naturally formed. Around the edges of the room were strange symbols carved into the walls.

Tina muttered a magical detection spell, and the symbols shone with a bright blue light, confirming her suspicions. She had fallen into a room full of trapping runes, designed to flood anyone stuck in them with negative thoughts, trapping them in their own emotions. 

A small body rubbing at her feet pulled Tina out of her thoughts. The Niffler appeared to want to continue onwards, impatiently trying to tug Tina’s trouser leg away from the room. Tina allowed herself a small grin at the Niffler.

‘Alright my little friend, let’s find the other two,’ Tina said. ‘Do you have their scent?’

The Niffler gave no response, instead shooting off out of the room. Tina had to break into a small jog to keep up with the little creature as it tore across the ground. After minutes of travel through endless and grey corridors of carved rock, Tina and the Niffler found themselves in a large open room. Before Tina could take any details in, there was a loud crack, followed by chunks of rock falling from the ceiling next to her. 

Tina picked the Niffler up and dove sideways as another chunk of rock fell from the ceiling. Tina looked up to the ceiling, and she saw the cloaked figure standing in an alcove above her. He noticed her, and swiftly turned away. However, Tina caught a swift glimpse of his face as he turned, and had a small spark of recognition. She somehow knew who this wizard was.

The Niffler squirmed its way out of her arms and started running across the room, nose glued to the ground. Tina shook the feeling of familiarity from her mind and followed, not wanting to lose track of the small creature. 

The Niffler led her down another group of corridors. Tina felt more and more that she was travelling in circles, the same cragged, rocky walls filling her sight wherever she looked. The Niffler was not having the same trouble, rushing through the corridors with what could be described as furious determination.

After a few further left turns, the corridors opened into another room, though it was not as large as the previous cavern. The ceiling was lower, rising just above Tina’s head. A few steps into the room, she already found herself in the centre of the room. Looking down, Tina noticed that the Niffler had also stopped next to her.

‘Tina! We found you!’ cried Newt’s voice from her left.

Tina spun around to see Newt and Jacob rushing out of another corridor towards her. She ran to them, arms held out wide, and pulled them into a tight hug. The two of them hugged back without a moment of hesitation. 

‘Now that is adorable,’ said a deep voice, joined by a slow clapping that echoed against walls.

The three of them turned to see the heavily cloaked man standing at the other end of the room. A rugged black bandana covered all his face except for calculating brown eyes. He aggressively raised his wand to cast a spell, but stopped short of actually casting a spell and stared at Tina with an intense gaze. 

‘Goldstein… is that you?’ he asked.

Tina met his eyes, looking closely to see if she recognised anything in this man that seemed to recognise her. She could see Jacob and Newt looking between them with confusion in the corner of her eye. Focusing back on the man’s eyes, the spark of understanding suddenly ignited in her mind.

‘Graves? Percival Graves?’ Tina asked loudly.

‘No way…’ Jacob muttered.

The cloaked man pulled down the bandana, revealing a scarred face, with the beginning patches of a peppery beard. However, it was still clearly Tina’s former boss, Percival Graves. He put his wand back inside his coat and sat down on a rock on the ground. Newt flicked his wand and conjured three chairs. The three of them sat in front of Graves.

‘Sorry about the traps. I thought you were here to kill me,’ Graves said.

‘You’re alive? What happened to you?’ Tina said, voicing the question they were all thinking.

‘I was taken prisoner by Grindelwald so he could become me,’ Graves said. ‘It came with the expected torture,’ he continued, trailing his hand over his facial scars. 

‘How did you escape?’ Tina asked, continuing her line of questioning.

‘When Grindelwald was captured, Dumbledore found me in the safehouse Grindelwald had been keeping me in. He gave me an escape plan, which is how I ended up here,’ Graves said. ‘Obviously he’s decided it’s time he was repaid for his help.’

Tina didn’t fail to notice the tinge of bitterness in his voice. She leaned back slightly and tried to portray a compassionate feeling.

‘I know it must be hard, but we need your help. You were one of the best at MACUSA,’ Tina said.

‘What’s the point, Goldstein? Grindelwald is the most powerful wizard in the world. He’s going to win, no matter what.’

Jacob stood up suddenly and pointed his finger aggressively at Graves.

‘What sort of defeatist crap is that?’ Jacob asked angrily. ‘The only reason Grindelwald could win is because talented wizards like you are too afraid to take a stand.’

Graves stood up and stepped almost nose to nose with Jacob. His fury was coming off him in waves, causing Newt to flinch slightly.

‘You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, no-maj. You have no idea what they did to me,’ Graves said, anger palpable in his voice. 

Jacob looked ready to spit another retort at Graves, but Newt reacted quicker than Tina could, pulling him away from Graves. Tina stood up and stepped between the two men to stop Graves from following Jacob.

‘Mr Graves - no, Percival - we honestly need your help. Forget Dumbledore and what you supposedly owe him. Forget how unbeatable Grindelwald is. Just think about the hundreds of Aurors you helped train, the hundreds of Aurors you made better people out of. We don’t want you on our side to fight; we want you on our side to teach,’ Tina said passionately.

Graves looked at her curiously, before sighing deeply and dragging his hands down his face. He turned around and took a few steps away. Tina watched as he reached into his coat and pulled out his wand. He spun around and marched back to Tina. He stopped when he was about an arm’s length away.

He shoved his hand out, the grip end of his wand facing Tina. He motioned for her to grab the end, so she obliged, gripping the wand tightly.

‘You’re right, Tina. I’ve been sitting in this cave for too long, when I have the knowledge to help train the next generation in fighting dark wizardry. Your cause has my wand, on my honour as a wizard.’

Tina nodded and released his wand. He flipped it around, gripping the correct end, and aimed it at the ceiling, muttering a spell under his breath. The tip of the wand shone brightly with orange light, and the section of the ceiling at which he was pointing shone too. A staircase collapsed into place out of the ceiling.

Graves gestured for the three of them to go ahead. Newt and Jacob looked to Tina, both clearly not trusting Graves entirely. Tina, eager to calm their minds, stepped onto the staircase and began to climb. Newt and Jacob followed. 

The stairs lead up through a long stone staircase, but it wasn’t too long before Tina was stepping out into the snow of the Swiss Alps. The sun shone with afternoon light, reflecting off the snow, creating a mountainside of gold. She took a deep breath of fresh air, then sighed with relief. They had travelled for months, but they had found what they were looking for, and made a new ally in the fight against Grindelwald. The mission was a success.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, is this an update? After months of radio silence?  
> You bet it is!  
> For anyone who has been keeping a remote eye on the progress of this story, thank you so much!  
> I can't make promises on chapter updates but I hope you will always pay a little attention to my little story.  
> Next chapter (when it comes) will be Theseus and Dumbledore meeting with an important Ministry official...
> 
> Thanks for reading, whether you're new or have waited far too long for an update!


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